Maybe, just maybe, the Coliseum in Rome had more prestige as a sporting venue — but in the 1,700 years since the Christians last took on the lions, there hasn’t quite been any place like Madison Square Garden.

From boxing to basketball, from the Rangers to the horse show, sporting enthusiasts of all social levels have grabbed a seat and a hot dog or two at Madison Square Garden.

Bob Russo, the Garden’s director of facilities, said the historic hall clocks some 600 events a year — nearly two a day.

“Between the Knicks and Rangers, we have 100 nights alone,” said Russo of the arena that seats up to 20,000 for boxing. “And then we have the Liberty [of the WNBA], and that’s another 20 games.”

Much of the remaining slack is taken up by the two other venues: the 5,900-seat Theater at MSG, which stages live theatrical shows presented by the Garden’s Radio City Entertainment arm, and the 40,000- square-foot exhibition hall, home to the cat show and others.

“We probably have more events of this nature than any facility in the country,” said Russo of the non-team events.

Legendary impresario P.T. Barnum first used the junction of Broadway and 23rd Street as a space for outdoor shows during the early 1870s. But it was Cornelius Vanderbilt’s son, William, who in 1874 raised the roof of what would become the first of four Madison Square Gardens over the next 100 years.

From 1890 until 1925, architect Stanford White’s elegant Garden was the most beautiful of the four. Highlighted by a graceful Renaissance-style tower, it was the second-tallest building in town.

“With 8,000 seats, the Garden was the largest auditorium in the U.S. at the time,” said Columbia University Professor Kenneth Jackson, who teaches a course on New York City history.

“It had a rooftop restaurant with a beautiful statue of [the goddess] Diana on top.”

But if the turn-of-the-century Garden was the most stylish, the third incarnation — at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue — best placed its stamp on the annals of history.

From 1925-1968, the cavalcade just kept on rolling: numerous Joe Louis title fights, Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday” to JFK, and CCNY winning both NIT and NCAA championships in 1951 — the only team ever to do so.

The present Garden, at 33rd Street and Eighth Avenue, opened in 1968, five years after the wreckers laid waste to that magnificent temple of transportation, Pennsylvania Station, at the same spot.

“It was a huge issue,” said Jackson of the razing. “The landmark-preservation movement came out it. I don’t think people wanted to take it out on Madison Square Garden, another revered institution, but there was much sadness.”

The present Garden has brought Ali vs. Frazier, the Willis Reed Knicks, who won the NBA title in 1970 and 1973, and the unforgettable 1994 Stanley Cup-winning Rangers.

“For the athletes,” Russo said, “the Garden is like playing The Palace. It’s nice to say you performed where giants performed.”